Species Learning
by coconuthorse
Summary: In which Jenny and Vastra slowly learn from, and about, each other.
1. Chapter 1

I don't watch Doctor Who, so this might veer from whatever canon's been established.

* * *

Jenny steps into the entrance of the den and looks to where Madame Vastra is sitting near the hearth, in exactly the same position as she had found her an hour ago when she delivered her dinner. Madame hadn't looked up to acknowledge her presence then as she was deeply engrossed in a book, although that was fairly common behaviour, especially when she was busy working on a mystery for the Yard or reading some of her ancient Silurian texts.

She notices that Madame's dishes are where she left them, off to the side of the desk - both the blood and heart (today it's cow) remain untouched. Jenny frowns a bit.

"Ma'am, are you not hungry? Is the food not to your likin'?" The other woman doesn't respond, and Jenny steps closer to repeat her words when she hears Madame muttering to herself softly in Silurian.

The language sounds very intricate and exotic to Jenny, although she doesn't hear Madame speak in her own tongue very often. The only times she really does is when she is angry, or in deep contemplation while solving a case. Jenny hopes she isn't cross with her about the food. She worked hard on dinner.

She lightly taps Madame on the shoulder, who pops out of her reverie with a small jolt and looks up at her maid. "Ma'am, are you feelin' alright? You haven't touched your meal." Vastra opens her mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. Jenny waits for a minute, and then gently prompts again, "Ma'am?"

The other woman is frozen for a few more moments, then seems to come to. "Miss Flint," she says haltingly, "I am...having trouble with..." She stops and huffs with frustration, and taps her ear.

Jenny pauses in confusion, and then gives a soft 'oh!' in understanding. "Your translator, is it broken? Can you hear me alright? Can you understand me?" she asks quickly.

(Jenny had been working for Madame Vastra for a few weeks before she realized that the Silurian had a remarkable grasp of English for someone who had only been among humans a few months. She asked Madame about it one evening while the woman tinkered away on one of her contraptions.

"I am afraid I must confess my grasp of your language is not quite what I would like it to be, Miss Flint, but I am slowly learning. The Doctor gave me a great tool which he adapted for Silurian physiology. It aids with the translation of English, as well as helps me to respond in your tongue with the correct sentence structure and sounds, as they are completely foreign to me. It is taking me some time to grasp. At this point, I know very little on my own.")

Vastra looks like she understood very little of what Jenny said except for the word 'translator.' She pulls the device out of her ear and puts it down on the table, motioning to it. "It is not working." She makes the universal signal for _slow down_ with her hands, and then follows it with "Slow. Please," she adds with a sheepish expression.

Jenny gives a nod and a sympathetic smile to indicate understanding, and then pulls up a chair in front of Madame and sits down. She makes sure to speak slowly and coherently. "Ma'am, are you well?" She points to the uneaten dinner. "You did not eat."

Vastra looks over at the food slightly wide-eyed, as if she is surprised to see it, and then back at Jenny. "I am well," she says. "I did not see." She gives an apologetic smile. "I am sorry. I was –" she stops and pauses again, trying to find the right words to express herself. When they do not come, she gives another irritated sigh and hands the book that she had been muttering over to Jenny.

It is a children's book, though there are no pictures. Even with her limited education, Jenny doesn't have a hard time reading what's on the page. She looks back at Vastra. "You were reading this?"

"Trying. I do not understand words," and then taps the lines in the book Jenny holds a few times, hoping to impart her meaning.

"You don't understand the written word, do you? You know spoken English well enough, but you can't read it on the page."

Madame nods in agreement. Her face is a blend of frustration, disappointment and embarrassment. At least, Jenny is pretty sure. The other woman might be a different species, but she has a lot in common with humans, including most of their facial expressions.

"I know...the alphabet. I tried to say the words. Translator stopped working. I cannot speak words for translation."

"You were trying to sound out the words so the machine could tell you what they meant?"

She nods again. "Yes. Sound out the words," she repeats, committing the phrase to memory.

"Well, I can read it to you, Ma'am. If you'd like that."

"Yes, please."

Jenny reads the story out loud, holding up the book and pointing to the words as she says them. She pauses after every paragraph and looks to see if Madame understands, who gives a short "Yes," or "No," depending. Toward the end of the book, she starts mouthing some of the words alongside her maid, at which Jenny looks at her and gives a small nod in approval.

After she has finished the book, Jenny stands to take her leave as Madame starts in on her dinner. Vastra stops her by lightly grasping her wrist and smiling brightly up at her. "Thank you, Miss Flint."

Jenny squeezes the hand around her wrist and smiles back. "You can call me Jenny, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Jenny."


	2. Chapter 2

Once Vastra fixes her translator – the Doctor had to pop in to supply her with the necessary parts for repair – she insists that they continue to conduct reading lessons in the den in the evenings, as she realizes that she relies on the machine far too much, and besides, as a member of a race far more advanced than these primitive mammals, she should be able to learn one of their savage tongues quite easily, thank you very much. (Jenny learned to ignore comments like that in her first week of employ).

During the day while out and about in London, Madame uses her device in her dealings with Scotland Yard and her other clients. But when it comes time for her reading lessons, she removes it and leaves it with Jenny, who holds it in her apron pocket until they are finished.

"Just so you're not tempted to use it as a crutch, Ma'am," said Jenny the first evening.

"I would never," Madame quietly huffed in affront. (She's too proud to do so even if she is tempted).

They buy a chalkboard so Jenny can write out sentences for Madame to read aloud. Jenny warns Madame several times that she has very little in the way of schooling, and that she might be better to hire a tutor. But the woman always shakes her head at this suggestion saying that Jenny is doing just fine, and her handwriting is perfectly legible. Jenny privately thinks that Madame is too embarrassed to admit to anyone else that she is uneducated in English - really, Vastra enjoys hearing the sound of her maid's voice as she reads aloud to her, though she would never admit it.

* * *

After a fortnight of evening sessions, Jenny is impressed with Vastra's rapid improvement. She has progressed from the basics to being able to hold simple conversations with ease, and can recognize almost every word that Jenny writes out instantly. She starts bringing her employer a selection of primers to work with that cover a number of topics including spelling and grammar, geography, and human history.

In the beginning, Vastra is less than pleased with this development. "These are for young ape children, Jenny."

"Yes Ma'am."

"I do not think these are suitable for me. I am a seventy year old Silurian warrior."

"We all have to start somewhere, Madame."

Although she is resigned to practicing with what she deems on her less charitable days as "what these unevolved mammals consider valuable knowledge for their obviously doomed offspring", she is intrigued by the booklet on geography, which provides the reader with a map of the world. When she sees this, she immediately jumps from her chair and walks briskly from the room, leaving her maid quite perplexed as she yells over her shoulder, "Jenny, I have something to show you, come here!"

Jenny rushes after her, heading to the back room where Vastra stores most of her belongings that would look out of place in the 19th century. By the time she gets there, Vastra has pulled out a large book that looks to be Silurian and is flipping the pages in haste. Once she finds what she is looking for, she slaps the book down on the table and gestures with glee.

"Look Jenny! This is a map of the world in my time. Here is where your England once was."

Jenny steps closer and examines the map, which looks nothing like anything she has seen on any map or globe. "Ma'am, I'm confused. The continents aren't where they are supposed to be. Look, South America and Africa are sittin' right next to each other...they kind of look like puzzle pieces fitted together – "

"Yes, exactly!" Vastra interrupts. "You see, continents _move_. They do not stay in one place."

She waves her hands around in excitement. Jenny rarely sees Madame this animated. She finds it oddly charming. "The world has changed so much in such a short time! Only three hundred – how do you say this number again, Jenny?" She writes the number down.

"A million, Ma'am."

"Only three hundred million years! It is quite amazing."

"How can land move, Ma'am? I'm afraid I don't understand."

"I –" she pauses, then a somewhat dejected look falls across her face and she looks down in disappointment. "I am afraid I do not know all the words yet to explain it without help. I am sorry."

Jenny taps her shoulder so she'll look back up at her, and gives her an encouraging grin. "It's alright Ma'am. You can explain it to me when you do."

* * *

A few nights later, Jenny is in the den working on some stitching, filled with worry and unable to sleep because of it. It's the middle of the night, and Madame hasn't returned yet from the case she had been working on that day. Jenny knows that she is mostly likely worrying for nothing – Madame Vastra is a skilled and fearless fighter who can take care of herself.

She hears the back door to the kitchen open, and a familiar voice call out, "Jenny?"

Jenny quickly rises from the chair and walks briskly toward the door. "Ma'am, where have you been all night? You missed your lesson, and had me worried si-"

She freezes in the doorway to the kitchen and her blood runs cold at the sight of the other woman. Vastra is shuffling slowly into the house, shivering and in obvious pain, with a large gash on her head that is oozing dark blood.

Vastra looks over at her maid and tries to smile at her horrified expression. "I'm fine Jenny. If you wouldn't mind bringing me some bandages?" she says, and promptly passes out.

* * *

Vastra wakes up in her bed the next day in the middle of the afternoon, feeling a bit disoriented. She is blessedly warm, having been tucked snugly into the thick blankets, and the cut on her head has been carefully wrapped. She slowly sits up and takes stock of the rest of her injuries. The superficial cuts on her legs have been bandaged, but the massive bruises on her abdomen have been left alone, though the grime on her scales has been washed away. She notices the goblet of blood sitting on her bedside table, which looks to have congealed while she was sleeping.

There is a quiet knock at the door. Vastra says, "Enter," and Jenny walks in with a tray of food in her hand.

"Oh Madame, thank goodness you're awake, I was really starting to worry."

"Did you carry me all the way here by yourself Jenny? And clean and bandage my wounds? Without calling a doctor?"

"Yes Ma'am, I did. I thought calling a doctor might not be such a good idea, seeing as 'ow you're not human and all –" she stutters for a moment, thinking that may have come off as offensive – "just that I mean they probably wouldn't have been able to help anymore than I could've, Madame."

"You did an excellent job, I'm impressed."

Her maid lightly blushes. "Thank you, Madame. I tried my best, but really I didn't do much. I still think it would be good to see someone with more doctorin' experience than me – say, do you think we should call the Doctor? I bet he's got somethin' that could, I don't know, detect any injuries I may've missed or – "

"I think I'll be fine Jenny. Nothing feels broken, I'm really no worse for wear."

"Well, now that I can't agree with Ma'am, you were in a right state when you got home last night, that gash in your head was 'orrible. What on Earth were you doing? Was it one of your cases?"

"No, I was attacked by a group of armed thugs on my way home from Scotland Yard. Needless to say, they will not be harassing anyone anymore. You don't need to worry any longer, I am a Silurian soldier in peak physical condition, trained in many different styles - "

"I know you're an accomplished warrior Ma'am, but sometimes I wish you could take someone out with you, or at least be more careful..."

Vastra tunes out her maid's voice, watching as Jenny continues on speaking. She simultaneously scolds her employer while her body language displays great relief and happiness that she seems to be okay. Vastra hasn't been on the receiving end of such a worried affection for a very long time. The level of genuine care that Jenny is showing her...it's very endearing.

Vastra doesn't notice the small smile that has crept across her face until Jenny abruptly pauses her lecture and says, "Ma'am, why are you smiling at me? I'm not exactly 'appy with you right now."

Vastra quickly takes a more serious posture and tone, and says "I'm just very thankful that you helped me, Jenny. I will try my utmost to be more careful in the future."

Jenny is slightly mollified by this, and gives a slight grin in response. "Thank you Ma'am. Now, are you feeling up to some lunch?"


End file.
